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Cypriot Turkish

Show Description

Turkish Cypriots are the ethnic Turks of Cyprus and members of the Turkish-speaking ethnolinguistic community of the Eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus. The term is sometimes used to refer explicitly to the indigenous Turkish-speaking Cypriots, as opposed to the Turkish migrants who have settled since the Turkish occupation of Cyprus. A large number of Turkish Cypriots reside in Northern Cyprus, which occupies the northern one-third of the island, however the single largest Turkish Cypriot community can now be found in its United Kingdom diaspora.

With the Ottoman conquest in 1570, the ethnic and cultural composition of Cyprus changed drastically. Although the island had been ruled by Venetians, its population was of Greek origin. Turkish rule brought an influx of settlers speaking a different language and entertaining other cultural traditions and beliefs. In accordance with the decree of Sultan Selim II, some 5,720 households left Turkey from the Karaman, Içel, Konya, Alanya, Antalya, and Aydın regions of Anatolia and migrated to Cyprus. The Turkish migrants were largely farmers, but some earned their livelihoods as shoemakers, tailors, weavers, cooks, masons, tanners, jewellers, miners, and workers in other trades. In addition, some 12,000 soldiers, 4,000 cavalrymen, and 20,000 former soldiers and their families stayed in Cyprus.